Seriously, I see that sentiment popping up all over the place, due to the recent unseasonable snow storms that have crisscrossed the United States, especially in places that aren’t accustomed to major winter weather, like Arizona and Florida.

Snowfall, the sentiment goes, means that the globe isn’t warming. See this editorial from the editorially bankrupt Washington Times for a prime example.

Now, this is stupid. Why it’s stupid ought to be self-evident, but here it is: The climate is more complex than your freezer. An individual unseasonable cold spot doesn’t mean the rest of the planet isn’t warmer on average. Or to put it in even more blunt terms, the snow outside your door doesn’t mean people in Rio de Janiero aren’t roasting. To death.

America is not the world. More importantly, your experiences do not define the world.

But perhaps talking about climate complexity in global terms doesn’t get through to the deniers for precisely that reason: They can only understand what they can directly tie to their own experiences. So perhaps instead of talking directly about the science behind anthropogenic climate change or pointing out the fallacy of using a regional cold snap to “debunk” global warming, we should talk about how the frost on the grass outside is caused by the warmer weather.

Wait… what?

Bear with me. It’s not a perfect analogy to the complexity of the global climate by any means, but it’s a small enough and simple enough weather event to explain in ways that even those who actively loath science will be able to understand.

In my neck of the woods, it’s been cloudy and gray for weeks, but that’s coming to an end. The sun is out, the sky is blue, the birds are singing, and there’s not a cloud in the sky today. The next 24 hours will be warmer on average than the previous 24 hours, and the previous 24 hours were warmer than the ones preceding them. On average.

Tonight, long after sunset, the fact that it’s still February will set in. Without cloud cover to keep the relatively short day’s heat in, the warmth that has accrued will be dissipated in winds from the north. For a short time, it will be cold. Probably cold enough that tomorrow morning, I will find frost on the ground like I did this morning. In other words, the factors that have led to an overall warming trend will also be responsible for a transient, regional cooling, one that wouldn’t happen without that warming trend.

Sound familiar?

So the next time you’re tempted to look at the snow on your doorstep as proof that global warming is a hoax, try to remember the last time a lack of cloud cover gave you a clear, warm day followed by a brisk, cool night. Maybe, just maybe, that unseasonable snow came your way because of factors that are making the world hotter overall. Maybe the climate really is more complex than your freezer.